Boston Bruins: Dan Vladar out to prove he’s far more than just depth
By Luke Ryan
The Boston Bruins will soon be back playing competitive fixtures and Dan Vladar, on the back of a great season in Providence, will be joining them.
Far from just sitting back and watching Tuukka Rask and Jaroslav Halak, you can be all but assured that Dan Vladar will be putting in maximum effort to staking his claim, even if it’s just as the Boston Bruins’ backup.
At the very least, he’ll be seeking to learn as much as possible from his two more experienced counterparts and make sure he’s the number three ahead of Providence teammate, Maxime Lagace.
This past season in the AHL, Dan Vladar did enough to lead the league in goals-against-average and save percentage, though found himself pipped to the Best Goaltender award by Minnesota Wild prospect, Kaapo Kahkonen.
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There is obviously a big leap between the AHL and the NHL, but the Boston Bruins, of all teams, know that can be overcome. Just look at what Jordan Binnington pulled off, unfortunately against us, last season.
Right now, he finds himself missing on day one of training camp, which isn’t the ideal scenario as it’ll put him a day behind in terms of on-ice conditioning, if nothing else.
One day shouldn’t be too much of a bother, but we don’t yet have any official timeline for the returning European players to be joining up with their (mostly) North American counterparts.
A delay of more than a few days could wreck any plans that Dan Vladar has in terms of staking his claim at a proper Boston Bruins roster spot.
To do that isn’t going to be an easy task in itself; Tuukka Rask is hardly likely to be usurped as the Boston Bruins’ number one choice and Jaroslav Halak brings a lot of experience to the crease.
Maybe Dan Vladar will be happy to settle for the third-choice spot; even that though, he faces some competition for, with Lagace unlikely to just move over and let him claim it.
Competition is key here; it should mean that the Boston Bruins and indeed Dan Vladar are better prepared if something were to happen to Rask or Halak.
dark. Next. Potential advantage to be gained from exhibition fixture
Thankfully for us, day two of training camp saw Vladar step up in Lagace’s place, so any waiting game is already over and the third spot behind Rask and Halak is apparently his to lose.